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I can't believe this needs said but yet another thread on why a third marker for intersex people that isn't chosen by them, or requested as an adult is something bad and will only cause harm. This will mostly be my own opinions.
There is no good that can come of it. Being born with a congenital condition of sexual development or being intersex is alienating enough but imagine looking no different from your peers and having everyone know these personal details about you, about your life and your body?
Intersex children are already isolated and picked on when they do have physical differences from their peers, look at any intersex man's or woman's story and you'll see just that. Accounts of harassment, bullying, discluded and especially being made fun of.
Even in my own case, I grew up in a manner of which my essential treatment for my condition was neglected and kids quickly caught on how different I was. How often I was sick, the fact I wasn't really growing while my classmates entered adolescence, my desperation and panic.
The whole fight for intersex people is that we're trying to normalize our bodies and conditions and discourage operations that prioritize a cosmetic appearance. We are opposed to unnecessary operations that are focused on making a child look a certain way, like their peers.
I lost friends, I was teased and harassed and I was absolutely ridiculed. I stand up now speaking against this happening to other children with these complicated conditions, being weaponized by ideologists for a cause that will not benefit us in any form or manner.
Parents will feel even more pressure then they already do, caving into the mentality of "I just want to give my child a normal life."
Can you blame the parents for suspecting their child will be bullied for being labeled as intersex, as neither boy nor girl? No, you can't.
Can you blame the parents for suspecting their child will be bullied for being labeled as intersex, as neither boy nor girl? No, you can't.
This is already the very reasoning used to justify these vile operations and going forward with intersex as a third category from the start will only worsen it. Do you honestly think children labeled intersex will be called cool, and looked up to? If you do, you're naive.
At first curiosity will arise, why is this other kid intersex? What is intersex? The moment the differences come flying out, children will feel more pressure then before begging to be like their peers or isolating themselves due to being intersex. How could you want this?
The child will feel overwhelming pressure to desire surgeries to "be normal" as much as I hate that phrasing, that's what a third category would do. It would officially put intersex into a "freak" status, rather then something that happens and creates a difference in development
Sure the child will choose whether to be a boy or girl, or embrace some kind of "non-binary" id which would earn the ire and/or jealousy of certain peers.. but is the pressure really fair on a child, to push them to decide -what- they want to be and can they make the choice?
The answer is no. Being intersex comes with its own obstacles and if you're born with certain conditions, you also gain other issues that are connected with your development which can impact mental capacities and the like. A child would latch onto whatever they feel is right.
Is that feeling the right choice though? It could be for the time but the odds of it staying the right choice are low
It's one thing if an adult with a CCSD wants to be legally seen as intersex, or a third category.. but we should not force a child into this difficult decision
It's one thing if an adult with a CCSD wants to be legally seen as intersex, or a third category.. but we should not force a child into this difficult decision
Why not just be honest with children, raise them as their biological sex while explaining to them their differences? Educate the parents so they aren't pressured into cosmetic surgeries that are optional, while being aware of what treatment is necessary depending on the condition
Why does an intersex child have to be raised in a manner that alienates them from other kids and having it out to the world?
An intersex child should be told they're intersex when they can understand and that it doesn't make them any different from who they were to begin with.
An intersex child should be told they're intersex when they can understand and that it doesn't make them any different from who they were to begin with.
This "third category" nonsense goes against the Darlington Statement and is only going to send us even further backwards in terms of intersex progression and normalizing.
Why should we other ourselves and our youth? We shouldn't.
Why should we other ourselves and our youth? We shouldn't.
Intersex boys are boys, intersex girls are girls and both boys and girls can end up being transgender as adults be it identifying as the opposite sex in some manner or preferring to go by a nonbinary label. Even if they wish to legally associate themselves as intersex as an adult
The more I see, the more angry I become. The harm that a third category could cause if used by default would be horrendous.
Parents wouldn't want their child to suffer and the child would desperately latch onto whatever identity they could to end their shunning and abuse.
Parents wouldn't want their child to suffer and the child would desperately latch onto whatever identity they could to end their shunning and abuse.
It's a recipe for disaster.
It also comes off as grooming intersex children to hate themselves so they take on a trans identity which inevitably leads to surgery and hormones but that might be the tin foil hat talking.
This is part of why I stand for what I do.
It also comes off as grooming intersex children to hate themselves so they take on a trans identity which inevitably leads to surgery and hormones but that might be the tin foil hat talking.
This is part of why I stand for what I do.
Biological sex is important, especially in intersex children. We've spent years of our lives being othered based on our differences, especially those of us born in the 0.02% like myself. Whether it was found out later or not, being intersex was no "trophy" or "good thing."
AIS girls are left questioning whether they're even female, or girls despite being raised as girls. CAH girls feel alienated from their peers due to their virilization. More severe klinefelter and AIS Boys question if they can really be men due to their natural femininity.
I've heard accounts of other conditions feeling they aren't "full" or are "lesser" even. The point is, the stigma is already there and we shouldn't be encouraging it. We should be fighting against it and taking steps to educate people so it's no longer there!
We should be saying that intersex boys are male, and intersex girls are female. That these differences don't make them any less female or male from their peers, or some other.
That cosmetic operations aren't necessary but if the treatment is desired without pressure it should be
That cosmetic operations aren't necessary but if the treatment is desired without pressure it should be
Intersex adults are free to identify how they wish but biological reality should be acknowledged. These surgeries should be there if someone wants them and doesn't feel pressured to get them, they shouldn't be mandatory or pushed to feel "normal."
I suppose that's it, this one hits hard.. especially given how I grew up
Isolated and left to fend for myself, not understanding why everyone hated me and why I was different. I desperately latched onto being trans to be normal only to cause myself further harm in the long run.
Isolated and left to fend for myself, not understanding why everyone hated me and why I was different. I desperately latched onto being trans to be normal only to cause myself further harm in the long run.
